In the News: Child Homelessness Up 38% Since 2007; â€˜BET Honorsâ€™ Award Recipients Announced and More

More than 1.6 million children were homeless at some point in 2010, the nonprofit National Center of Family Homelessness reported today.Â That’s nearly a 38% increase from 2007.

“There are more homeless children today than after the natural disasters of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which caused historic levels of homelessness in 2006,â€ Ellen L. Bassuk, founder of the national center, said in a statement.

The recession’s economic devastation has left one in 45 children homeless in a year,â€

The figures include children under the age of 18 who are living with one or more parents or caregivers on the streets, those in shared housing because of “economic hardship,” as well as those in “emergency or transitional shelters.â€

Orlando Ward went from Stanford University to the streets of Skid Row in Los Angeles. Ward finally kicked his drug habit after having a talk with God; the once homeless man began working at the Midnight Mission, a soup kitchen, where he later became vice president of operations. Ward is currently the director of community affairs at Volunteers of America Greater Los Angeles.